Customize your outing on Elizabethtown’s Blueberry Hill Trail System

Latest extensions offer hikers of all levels wilderness views, flexible routes

Story and photos by Tim Rowland

Those familiar with the fine multi-use Blueberry Hill Trail System in Elizabethtown may know it best for a lovely trail that passes by an old sugarhouse, or a pleasant view from Blueberry Hill of the hamlet and the narrow cleft that separates the Giant and Hurricane wildernesses.

But if you haven’t been there lately, you might not have gotten word that those crazy mountain bikers — who can apparently go for years without sleep — have been busily opening up more great trails to the northwest of the original network.

I’d been meaning to check them out for some time now, but didn’t get around to it until the first of April, when the trails are usually too wet for bikes, but not for hikes. What I found were trails leading to a spectacular, 2,000-foot knob with more open views than are typically found on trails designed with bikes in mind. 

Another advantage is that you can customize your hike in terms of length and degree of difficulty. A map and some trail suggestions are available at the Barkeater trail systems’ Blueberry web page.

From the Lord Road trailhead, you could choose a three or four mile route taking in various sights and attractions along the way. Or, you can take the dirt Bronson Way (accessed off of Roscoe Road in Elizabethtown) to the foot of the knob, limiting your on-foot distance to a two-mile round trip.

I drove in on Bronson, which is generally OK, but a bit sketchy in spots. Since my possum pursuit vehicle was at the time in the shop surrounded by a circle of hand-holding mechanics conducting a seance to determine the cause of a check-engine light, my vehicle was the silver, 2002 4-cylinder Toyota Camry, aka the Silver Flash. 

I wear noise canceling headphones when I drive the Silver Flash on dirt, because there are some things you’re better off not knowing. It did pretty well for 1.5 miles, when I got to a broad sand pit. Sand is not the SF’s preferred road base, so I more or less left it half-in, half-out of the pit, with the doors unlocked and the keys in it, should anyone happen along who disapproved.

Besides, this was supposed to be a hike, not a drive. Continuing up Bronson—if you have an all-wheel drive with decent clearance you’ll be fine— I climbed moderately for another half a mile to a string of, count ’em, five posted signs the color of Doritos Flamin’ Hot Nacho Chips that you definitely cannot miss. 

Let me back up. If you want a longer, but easier grade, you can take Joel’s Trail, named in the memory of Joel Harwood, an outdoorsman and Blueberry Trails volunteer whom we lost too early in 2014. I didn’t know Joel, but in my view if a trail is named for you in such a great slice of the outdoors as this, it means you have led a good life.

Taking this trail will involve multiple, mountain-bike-accommodating switchbacks, meaning the grade — a not-inconsiderable 815-foot elevation gain from the sand pit — will be gentler.

Back at the nacho signs, you can turn right off the road onto a footpath that takes a more direct route up the mountain. You will run into Joel’s Trail higher up the mountain, avoiding the lengthy switchbacks, which you can follow, turning left and crossing a new bridge and staying on the trail until it ends at Joel’s Overlook, with a satisfying view east to Elizabethtown, with glimpses of Lake Champlain and the Green Mountains of Vermont.

From here, well, you have options. With mountain-bike trails, it’s always best to follow your progress on an app like TrailForks, which would route you to Fer-de-Lance Trail, followed by Buff Daddy Trail to Otis Views Trail to your ultimate goal, the Overlook Trail. 

Or you can just cut through the woods in the general direction of the terminus of Overlook Trail. I stumbled upon what appears to be a trail-in-progress, which I later found to be the Steampunk Trail on the BETA site, but has not shown up yet on the Gaia app.

From this trail, if you find yourself on it, you will see the beginnings of the bluffs above you, and a bit to the left. The good angel on your shoulder will say, “Stay on the trail, Timmy, you know that’s what you should always do” and the devil on your other shoulder will say, “Don’t listen to that insipid little weed, just climb straight up the drainage.” 

I did the right thing, which was in this case the wrong thing, since Steampunk cuts sharply left and heads back down the mountain. No matter, it was a quick little bushwhack up the swale to open rock. BETA, however, pointed out that Blueberry Hill trail extensions mentioned in this article are on private land which may have some associated use restrictions. All users are asked to remain on trail at all times to avoid creating footpaths and erosion.

And what a destination. Open cliffs ring nearly half of the knob, offering a unique panorama. This might be the most interesting perspective on Rocky Peak Ridge I can recall, since you can see its long, impressive profile in its entirety (explaining, in a good strong light, why it’s such a gobsmacker of a hike). Next up is Giant, and all the mountains that fall away from Giant: Owl’s Head Lookout, Green, Tripod and Knoblock.

Then comes the gap through which Route 9N pierces, and to the right is an arrowhead profile of Hurricane and its tower. The Soda Range is next and finally Limekiln Mountain, higher up and almost close enough to touch. In keeping with the Blueberry theme, an Eastern bluebird was singing away.

I stayed for an inordinate amount of time, knocking back ham sandwiches and Easter candy — none of that apple slices and polenta cakes for me, thank you very much. But whatever your choice of lunch, I suspect you’ll want to linger too.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to note restrictions on private land.